AT least four people were killed and two injured in a mass shooting yesterday in the city center of Darwin, northern Australia.

Police have arrested the suspected shooter, described as a Caucasian man aged 45, who was wearing high-visibility overalls.

Witnesses told the broadcaster ABC that the man walked into the Palms Motel on Darwin’s Esplanade and opened fire with a pump-action shotgun just before 6 p.m.

Northern Territory police duty superintendent Lee Morgan said: “At this stage we’ve got reports of four deceased and a number of other people who have been shot.”

Morgan said police first received calls about shots being fired at 5.50 p.m. local time.

Witness Leah Potter said the gunman was armed with a pump-action shotgun and shot a woman through her hotel room door.

“I was in the car park [of a neighboring hotel] when I heard what I thought were fireworks going off, really loud cracking, banging fireworks,” she said.

The gunman was then reported to have fled the scene, until being arrested by Northern Territory police without incident at 6.45 p.m. Officers expect to lay charges against him today.

There are reports of a fifth fatality outside the city center but this has not yet been confirmed by authorities.

Another witness, John Rose, told ABC he saw the gunman walk in with “a sawn-off shotgun.”

“He shot up all the rooms and he went to every room looking for somebody and he shot them all up, then we saw him rush out, jump into his Toyota pickup, and rush off.”

He said the gunman was calm as he shot up the hotel.

(SD-Agencies)